Parking system

ABSTRACT

An automobile storage system to increase the space efficiency and accommodate additional automobiles. The system has a first row of automobile storage units with a first plurality of side-by-side bays, each bay having a width, some of the bays provide parking stations, a second row of like automobile storage units adjacent the first row of automobile storage units. Each automobile storage unit has multiple levels with at least one designated level, and remaining levels. The designated level provides for ingress and egress of automobiles to/from the automobile storage unit, and includes at least one ingress lane devoid of any stored automobiles. Some of the remaining levels provide the parking stations which are positioned vertically with respect to the designated level. An elevator is provided for delivery and retrieval of an automobile to/from the system. The automobile storage unit rows are staggered with respect to each other by a distance of about the width of at least one bay.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional application No. 62/930,034, filed Nov. 4, 2019, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to parking systems, e.g., automobile storage units or parking garages, in which plural parking structures, each with multiple spaces for motor vehicles such as automobiles, are arranged to increase an accommodation for a plurality of motor vehicles. In particular, the present invention pertains to an arrangement of automobile storage units to maximize the number of available parking spaces.

2. Description of the Related Art

There are many forms of parking systems. One general goal in designing such systems is in the maximization of storage capabilities for motor vehicles, e.g., automobiles, SUVs, cars, motorbikes, etc., while occupying a least amount of space or a reduced footprint for the overall system. A common conventional approach is generally referred to as a tower parking garage. In essence, this approach makes use of a tower structure having an elevator that can maneuver a car vertically in an elevator shaft within floors of the tower and then, once a destination floor has been reached, store the car in one of a plurality of side-by-side parking stations (i.e. a parking space or bay) on either side of the elevator shaft by moving the pallet on which the car sits, e.g., to the left or right of the elevator shaft.

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate, respectively, generic front and side views of such a conventional tower parking garage 10. Hereinafter, a “tower” will generally refer to a vertically extending structure, upward and/or downward, having an elevator shaft, surrounded, to the left and right, by spaces for storing cars. This tower 10 generally is formed as rectangular structure defining a volume which is arranged in an m×n matrix of spaces, where “n” represents a number of rows and “m” represents a number of columns. In a typical tower parking garage, m=3, namely, three side by side columns consisting of a left column 14, a right column 16 and a middle column 18. The middle column contains the elevator shaft and an elevator compartment or elevator 20. The number of rows “n” represents the number of floors of the tower. Thus, a 3×6 matrix will accommodate approximately 12 cars (18 less the six spaces occupied by the middle column containing the elevator shaft). Of course, one extra vehicle could also be retained in the elevator, bringing the total number of cars in such a system to 13.

As will be discussed below, the middle column 18 is where the elevator 20 travels between floors. In FIGS. 1A and 1B the elevator 20 is shown located on the entry floor 22 (which can be at street level, below street level or above street level) and contains a car positioned on a car pallet. Such an elevator will vertically traverse the floors of the tower 10, in a conventional fashion, by traveling along the elevator shaft, for example making use of a counterweight 24.

A car 26 to be parked is shown on its pallet 28, which is supported by the elevator 20 in the middle column 18. This view depicts a situation in which a number of previously parked cars 30 are in the tower. These cars have been lifted to a desired floor, via the elevator traveling along the middle column 18, and then moved laterally (left or right) to an available parking space in the left column 14 or the right column 16 by moving the associated pallet. The elevator is shown in a ground floor position ready to receive another car (car 26), which has been driven onto pallet 28 in the elevator.

It is noted that if the tower is a so-called “drive-through” configuration then a car will enter the elevator from an access road or drive aisle adjacent one side of the tower and move in a forward direction. When that car is later retrieved, it will be positioned by the pallet on the elevator, moved to an exit floor and then exit the elevator in the same forward direction to another drive aisle on an opposite side of the tower. A different tower configuration is the non-drive-through type where cars enter and exit the elevator from the same elevator side. In such a configuration, a turntable is often included in the tower to rotate the cars such that they can egress the elevator in a forward driving direction. It is also noted that such non-drive-through towers will have a single drive aisle, often bi-directional, to allow for ingress and egress from the tower.

The side view FIG. 1B shows a next car 32 waiting outside the tower 10 on an entrance ramp 34, which can be a drive aisle. Once the elevator 20 has returned to the ingress and/or egress level after having parked the car 28, the next car 32 will be able to be driven onto the pallet 28 in the elevator 20 and moved to an available space in the tower.

A top view of FIG. 2 illustrates the parking configuration on a typical non ground level floor of a tower, also referred to hereinafter as an automobile storage unit 36. The cars to the left and right of the center are storage spaces for cars, and the center shows a car in the process of being positioned in one of the left and right spaces.

FIG. 3 is a highly schematic Illustration of a top view of a single automobile storage unit, having 3×n spaces, some of which are parking stations and others are occupied by the elevator. For illustration, the white sections (L, R) represent car storage spaces (also referred to as parking stations) on the left 14 and the right 16, and the shaded area represents the elevator 20 on any floor within the elevator shaft along the middle column 18. It is to be understood that there is only one elevator operating in the automobile storage unit 36.

A control system is used to assign motor vehicles to accommodating parking stations, such as by measuring the height, width and/or weight of the vehicle 26 as it enters or approaches the storage unit 36. Thus, a certain percentage of floors may have parking stations dimensioned, in height, length and/or width, for compact low-height cars, while different floors could be arranged to accommodate taller trucks or vans. Accordingly, as a vehicle approaches, it may be scanned for dimensions by the controller system which will direct the elevator to move that vehicle to an appropriate parking station in the storage unit 36. Such systems are also referred to in the art as “store and fetch” systems.

Theoretically, one could build an infinitely tall storage unit to accommodate an infinite number of vehicles. However, the practical height range is 15 to 50 stories (not counting the ground level). A 50 story garage will hold 100 cars (as each level holds 2 cars, namely, one on the left and one on the right on each floor, not including the elevator space). If additional storage is needed, then the solution is to position one or more storage units side-by-side.

For example, FIG. 4 schematically illustrates an automobile storage system 136 made up of two side-by-side automobile storage units 36 a, 36 b containing multiple side-by-side parking stations.

As the need for the number of parking stations increases, generally the conventional solution is to add additional side-by-side storage units. So, for example, if approximately 500 spaces are needed, five side-by-side storage units, each with a capacity of 100 vehicles can be used. Such a five-tower automobile storage system 136 is shown in FIG. 5. A drive aisle 131 is provided on one side of the storage system 136 to allow cars to approach the respective elevator entranceways, which are illustrated as shaded, as discussed above. Thus, for five storage units, there are five elevators, each providing access to parking stations to the left and right, respectively. If the automobile storage system 136 were of the drive-through type, a second drive aisle would be provided on an opposite side thereof.

In the case in which it is necessary to have the capacity to park approximately 1,000 cars and constraints exist, such as real estate dimensions or zoning regulations which prohibit further side-by-side expansion, the automobile storage system 136 can include another row of storage units 36 as shown in FIG. 6, in which a first row 110 of units is spaced from a second row 120 of units, and in which a shared drive aisle 131 is arranged in between, to allow cars to enter either of the units 110 or 120 from the single drive aisle.

In case one cannot go wider (but can go deeper, e.g., placing a further row of automobile storage units 36 behind or in front of an existing one) and one needs to park approximately 1,500 cars, then a configuration like that shown in FIG. 7 can be provided. In FIG. 7, the automobile storage system 136 includes three rows of storage units, each having multiple side-by-side parking stations, a first row 130, a second or middle row 140 and a third row 150, with two drive aisles 131 provided between respective adjacent rows. There is no theoretical constraint on the number of rows or aisles that can be formed in this manner, although space constraints may become significant, especially in the case of a structure height limit.

As should be apparent from the above description, when multiple rows of automobile storage units are arranged in front of each other, a drive aisle must be present between them to provide for ingress and egress to the elevators. The need for drive aisles occupies valuable real estate, particularly in metropolitan locations where real estate costs may be elevated. Moreover, the density of spaces for cars, namely, the overall vehicle capacity, is limited by the requirement for direct access of the vehicles to the elevators.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a parking system with increased density of parking stations to accommodate an increased number of motor vehicles by adjusting an arrangement of automobile storage units.

The terms “tower”, “parking garage tower”, “parking tower”, and “automobile storage unit” are used interchangeably herein and refer to a multi-floor parking structure for motor vehicles such as automobiles, with each tower or unit containing one or more columns of elevator-accessible parking spaces or “bays”. The term “parking space” and “parking station” are also used interchangeably and mean a location where a motor vehicle can be stored, i.e. “parked” in the automobile storage unit.

An embodiment of the invention is directed to an automobile storage system. The system has a first row of automobile storage units having a first plurality of side-by-side bays, each bay having a width, some of the bays provide parking stations, a second row of automobile storage units adjacent the first row of automobile storage units, the second row of automobile storage units having a second plurality of side-by-side bays, some of the bays in the second set of bays provide parking stations, wherein each automobile storage unit has multiple levels consisting of a designated level, and remaining levels, wherein the designated level provides for ingress and egress of automobiles to/from the automobile storage unit. At least some of the remaining levels comprise the parking stations, which are positioned vertically with respect to the designated level. An elevator shaft is provided for allowing travel of an elevator car for delivery and retrieval of an automobile to and from the parking stations. The elevator shaft is positioned between a left-side parking station and a right-side parking station. The second row of automobile storage units is positioned adjacent the first row but staggered with respect to the first row of automobile storage units by a distance of about the width of about one bay. The positioning of the second row of automobile storage units can be directly adjacent the first row or separated by a distance. In the latter case, bridges will be employed at some or all levels to provide vehicle passage between the rows.

In another aspect, the automobile storage system includes a third row of automobile storage units adjacent the second row of automobile storage units and staggered in a same direction as the first, by a distance of about the width of at least one bay with respect to the second row.

In another aspect, the improved automobile storage system further comprises at least one drive aisle adjacent the first row of automobile storage units.

In yet another aspect, the improved automobile storage system further comprises two drive aisles, one on either side of the storage system.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B are front and side views, respectively, of a conventional automobile storage unit;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the conventional automobile storage unit of FIGS. 1A and 1B;

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a conventional single automobile storage unit;

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a conventional automobile storage system having two side-by-side automobile storage units;

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of a conventional automobile storage system having a row of five side-by-side automobile storage units;

FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of a conventional automobile storage system having two rows of five side-by-side automobile storage units;

FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of a conventional automobile storage system having three rows of five side-by-side automobile storage units;

FIG. 8 is a schematic representation of an automobile storage system in accordance with one aspect of the present invention containing three rows of five side-by-side automobile storage units;

FIG. 9 is a schematic representation of an automobile storage system containing three rows of five side-by-side automobile storage units in accordance with another aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic representation of the automobile storage system of FIG. 8 but with two drive aisles in accordance with another aspect of the present invention; and

FIG. 11 is a schematic representation of an automobile storage system having two systems of FIG. 8 with drive aisles, in accordance with another aspect of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The present invention provides an arrangement or layout of parking towers or automobile storage units that saves up to 50% of the space required by the conventional automobile storage unit layouts, such as the conventional layouts discussed above.

The entry or access (ingress or egress) floor of each unit in the rows of units is arranged in accordance with the present invention to be empty of cars except when a car is on the elevator on the ingress floor about to elevate or, has previously been brought down for exiting the garage and is about to exit. The layouts of the towers used in the present invention takes advantage of this ingress floor configuration.

In particular, according to various aspects of the present invention, automobile storage units or rows of such units are arranged adjacent one another in a layout characterized as “nested” or “staggered”. In accordance with an aspect of the invention, the units or rows of units are nested or staggered in a first direction (shows as to right direction in FIG. 8) so as to be able to utilize the ingress floor empty space of the units as a drive-thru space. Embodiments of what the inventor has found to be the most efficient with a conventional automobile storage unit is to stagger one or two bays or lanes per row of units as described below.

In FIG. 8, a parking system 400 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention includes a drive aisle 200, and an automobile storage system 230 consisting of three staggered rows of side-by-side automobile storage units 280, 290 and 300 arranged from proximate to distal the drive aisle 200, respectively. The automobile storage units contain a plurality of side-by-side bays, some of which serve as parking stations, and others of which provide locations for elevator shafts. As in the prior art, each parking station has an associated pallet which is used to position cars to and from the elevator to the parking station. In the embodiment of FIG. 8, the drive aisle 200 serves a dual purpose: namely, for automobile ingress and egress. In the embodiment of FIG. 8, the arrangement is a stagger of about or approximately a single bay in pitch (one bay staggered) in the same direction, namely, the second row is staggered to the right relative to the first row by about the width of one bay, and the third row is staggered to the right relative to the second row by about the width of one bay. The term “about the width” or “approximately the width” means a distance sufficient to allow a car enter and exit the parking system, i.e., without being obstructed by an adjacent bay or other structure.

Because the system of FIG. 8 is not a drive-through system, turntables as are known in the art may be provided to turn the cars around so that they can egress in a forward driving motion. Of course, the cars can be simply backed out in reverse upon egress, in which case a turntable would not be needed. For the sake of safety, however, the use of turntables is preferred to allow for forward motion egress in a non-drive-through configuration.

The present invention provides to align the automobile storage units in a way that results in a one elevator per automobile storage unit with each storage unit comprising a matrix of 3×n bays as in the prior art. With this arrangement, however, as compared to the prior art, the need for a separate drive aisle between adjacent rows of storage units is alleviated. Thus, the positioning of the second row of automobile storage units can be directly adjacent the first row, and the third directly adjacent the second row (as illustrated by FIG. 8). Alternatively, the adjacent rows of storage units can be separated by a distance such that bridges will be employed at some or all levels to provide vehicle passage between the rows. The stagger need only be present in a way that fits the available real estate space and assures that the drive aisles are clear.

In FIG. 9 an automobile storage system 500 in accordance with a two-bay staggered embodiment of the present invention includes a single drive aisle 442, arranged along an access side of automobile storage unit row 440. The system 500 consists of three staggered rows 440, 450 and 460 from proximate to distal the drive aisle, respectively. As in the previous embodiment, the drive aisle serves a dual purpose: both for cars entering and exiting the storage system. In the embodiment of FIG. 9, the stagger is two bays in pitch (two-bay staggered). Like the embodiment of FIG. 8, all cars enter and exit through the same side of storage unit row 400. Again, if forward ingress and egress are desired, turntables will be provided.

The staggered layout according to the present invention can also be used, as illustrated in FIG. 10, with a drive aisle arranged on each side of the automobile storage system 530. Although this arrangement provides less space saving, is has the advantage of a drive through system and can speed the parking process and improve traffic flow.

As shown in FIG. 10, in which arrows A, B, C, and D represents traffic flow, cars enter the automobile storage system 530 at an entry drive aisle 800, and exit onto an exit drive aisle 820. The cars pass through the empty ground floors, with the staggering providing a line of entry and exit with at most a single elevator in the path of the car. For example, a car entering by directional arrow A enters an elevator for automobile storage row 540 and can be moved by pallet to parking station 540 ₁, or be vertically moved while on the pallet by the elevator to a different floor where it will be positioned in an appropriate available parking station (e.g. a station that is sized to accommodate the particular car or vehicle) on the left side or right side of the elevator. A different pallet, namely one associate with an available parking space, is positioned in the elevator and the elevator is then returned to the ingress floor to accept another vehicle. Of course, the car could alternatively proceed to rest in parking station 560 ₁, but such positioning would interfere with the egress access of other cars needing to exit via the path of arrow A to the drive aisle 820. A car entering by directional arrow B will pass through automobile storage row 540 onto an elevator having a pallet for automobile storage row 560 and can be vertically moved by the elevator to a different floor in row 560 where it will be positioned in an appropriate parking station to the left side or right side of the elevator. Likewise, a car entering by directional arrow C will pass through automobile storage rows 540 and 560 until it reaches an elevator in automobile storage row 580. From there it can be vertically moved by the elevator while on a pallet to a different floor in row 580 where it will be positioned in an appropriate parking station space on the left side or right side of the elevator. The path of a car entering via directional arrow D is similar to that of directional arrow A, and so on.

The drive thru arrangement as shown in FIG. 10, which has an entry drive aisle 800 and an exit drive aisle 820, also advantageously eliminates the need for a turntable to reverse the direction of the car, which would otherwise be needed to accommodate forward direction egress.

As an example of the invention's potential positive impact on the parking industry, if we assume that a parking area of 100 ft. by 200 ft. is provided with a prior art side-by-side arrangement of two rows of automobile storage units, with each unit occupying 22 ft. in length, and a drive aisle positioned in front of one of the rows and between the two rows, with each drive aisle occupying 24 ft., then the overall parking area would accommodate 16 automobile storage units for a total of 640 cars. However, by staggering three rows of automobile storage units by the width of about or approximately one bay as in FIG. 10 or approximately two bays as in FIG. 9, then 22 automobile storage units can be accommodated. This increases the storage capacity up to 880 cars (a 37% increase). In addition, if the overall storage system 500 is designed as a drive-through, the need for turntables and their associated complexity is alleviated.

The automobile storage system according to the present invention can be built all at once or piecemeal with any set of automobile storage units. However, if designed and built as one group of units and properly crossed braced to each other, the overall resulting structure is stronger. Because of this cross-bracing benefit, the units can be built lighter and at less cost while still providing sufficient stability.

The space savings created by the inventive embodiments further increase as additional nested automobile storage systems are employed, as shown in FIG. 11. There, a first “one bay” nested system 930 (i.e. a system with a staggering of approximately the width of a single bay), consisting of nested rows of automobile storage units 940, 950, and 960, is set next to another similar one-bay nested system 1130, which consists of nested rows of automobile storage units 1140, 1150, and 1160. At the top of the figure, a traffic entry drive aisle 1010 is provided. In between the systems 930 and 1130, a second intermediate drive aisle 1020 is provided, in which traffic enters system 930 and proceeds into system 1030. The directional arrows 1005 illustrate the path taken by cars from the traffic entry aisle 1010 to the intermediate drive aisle 1020. Finally, at the bottom of the figure, a traffic exit drive aisle 1030 is provided. The directional arrows 1007 illustrate the path taken by cars from the intermediate drive aisle 1020 to the traffic exit drive aisle 1030.

The invention makes it possible to construct a parking garage system with increased car storage density, i.e. with more parking stations, over the prior art. The disclosed system is simple, requiring only a vertical elevator and a known store and fetch system.

Overall this configuration can; 1) add density by increasing the number of parking stations for a given land plot, 2) smooth traffic flow, 3) eliminate the complexities of a turntable in some embodiments, 4) allow modular construction (add additional parking as needed), and 5) accommodate a large amount of ingress and egress.

Thus, while there have shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

Thus, while there have shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An automobile storage system, comprising: a first row of automobile storage units having a first plurality of side-by-side bays, each bay having a width, some of the bays provide parking stations; a second row of automobile storage units adjacent the first row of automobile storage units, the second row of automobile storage units having a second plurality of side-by-side bays, some of the bays in the second set of bays provide parking stations; wherein each automobile storage unit has multiple levels comprising at least one designated level, and remaining levels, wherein the designated level provides for ingress of automobiles to the automobile storage unit, egress of automobiles from the automobile storage unit, or ingress and egress of automobiles to and from the automobile storage unit, wherein at least some of the remaining levels comprise the parking stations, which are positioned vertically with respect to said designated level; an elevator shaft provided for allowing travel of an elevator car for delivery and retrieval of an automobile to and from the parking stations, the elevator shaft having a width and being positioned between a left-side parking station and a right-side parking station; and wherein the second row of automobile storage units is staggered with respect to the first row of automobile storage units by a distance of about the width of one bay, or about the width of one bay and the width of the elevator shaft.
 2. The automobile storage system of claim 1, further comprising a third row of automobile storage units adjacent said second row of automobile storage units and staggered by a distance of about the width of one bay, or about the width of one bay and the width of the elevator shaft, relative to the first and second rows of automobile storage units.
 3. The automobile storage system of claim 1, comprising a third row of automobile storage units adjacent the second row of automobile storage units, wherein the second row of automobile storage units is staggered in a first direction by a distance of about the width of one bay, or about the width of one bay and the width of the elevator shaft relative to the first row of automobile storage units, and wherein the third row of automobile storage units is staggered in the same first direction by a distance of about the width of one bay, or about the width of one bay and the width of the elevator shaft relative to the second row of automobile storage units.
 4. The automobile storage system of claim 1, comprising a third row of automobile storage units adjacent the second row of automobile storage units, wherein the second row of automobile storage units is staggered in a first direction by a distance of about the width of one bay and the width of the elevator shaft relative to the first row of automobile storage units, and wherein the third row of automobile storage units is staggered in the same first direction by a distance of about the width of one bay and the width of the elevator shaft relative to the second row of automobile storage units.
 5. The automobile storage system of claim 1, further comprising at least one drive aisle adjacent the first row of automobile storage units.
 6. The automobile storage system of claim 6, further comprising a second drive aisle adjacent the second row of automobile storage units.
 7. The automobile storage system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the parking stations contain automobile pallets. 